The New Saints suffer narrow defeat to Djurgarden in Conference League

Despite defending solidly and having the odd half chance, it was a single goal from Tobias Gulliksen late in the first period that won the game for the visitors.

It was expected that the Saints could potentially be turned over by the Swedish outfit, backed by 1,500 travelling fans but they put in a solid account of themselves and on another night it could have been a different story.

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Anything other than a win would have left the Saints in a very difficult position to qualify for the next round, given the fact they were edged out at Shamrock Rovers on their last outing.

But it was a big assignment, as Djurgarden have just finished fourth in the Swedish top flight and have considerable European pedigree in recent years, including reaching the group stages twice in the last three years.

The opening ten minutes came and went without chances but the difference in quality was starting to creep through early on.

As much as the Saints were trying to go toe to toe with the Swedish outfit in terms of getting the ball down and playing, they were struggling to get it to stuck at the top end of the field.

The first real effort of the game came a few minutes later when a sweeping move ended with Tomac Nguen's curling goal bound effort being deflected just wide.

Nguen the had two efforts blocked and it was starting to feel like it was only a matter of time until the visiting favourites would breach the Saints.

They were having to soak up an awful lot of pressure but were getting the odd break going forward.

And on 22 minutes they had a golden chance thanks to a superb piece of work from Jordan Williams.

He broke down the left with the ball finding its way to Josh Daniels, whose cross was taken off Declan McManus' toe but the ball fell into the path of Ash Baker.

However, the full back could only rifle an effort high over the cross bar.

Given the fact the chances for the Saints were going to be at a premium, it felt like a big moment in the game.

A soft penalty shout was waved away at the other end - but despite having to settle for much less possession the Saints were trying to make their opportunities count.

They had the visitors stretched yet again just after the half hour mark - with Danny Redmond curling an effort just over the bar.

Neither side were carving out anything clear cut but the best chance of the game fell to the visitors just moments later - with Nguen again the man in the thick of it.

A deep cross from the left caught Danny Davies ball watching, allowing Nguen to touch it inside but Connor Roberts was quick off his line to thwart the winger.

He had no chance four minutes before the break though - as Djurgarden got their just reward for a wave of pressure.

Davies was again caught napping as Adam Stahl got past him too easily, squaring it for Gulliksen to stroke the ball home past Roberts.

Although the Saints had defended valiantly and attacked where they could in the first period - you had to say the visitors deserved the half time advantage.

The opening 15 minutes of the second period was dominated by the Swedes with Nguen again denied by a block, and the Saints struggling to create any openings on the break.

As the game wore on, they did start to get a bit of joy similar to what they had done in the first half.

A move down the right saw a cross cut back into the path of Daniels, but a tame effort from 18 yards was blocked and cleared by the visitors.

Harrison rolled the dice, throwing on Adam Wilson and Rory Holden with 20 minutes to go in a bid to snatch what would have been a superb point in the circumstances.

It was almost curtains on the 80th minute with Daniels having to cut out a pass to thwart what would have been a certain goal on the counter for the visitors.

The Saints pushed late on but almost left the back door open with the visitors having three big chances to kill the game in the dying minutes.

The result leaves the Saints with two games remaining in the group phase - and a place in the next round now looks extremely unlikely for the Cymru Premier champions.

Teams

TNS: Roberts, Pask, Davies, Daniels, Baker (Wilson 69), Redmond (Bradley 90), D Williams (Smith 83), McGahey, J Williams (Cieslewicz 83), Clark (Holden 69), McManus

Subs not used: Edwards, Oosunde, Bodenham, Brobbel,, Hudson, Canavan, Woollam

Djurgarden: Rinne, Danielson, Larsson, Hummet, Stensson (Schuller 70), Sabovic, Gulliksen (Aslund 90), Stahl, Nguen (Haarala 90), Wikheim, Kosugi

Subs not used: Croon, Janssen, Tenho, Eriksson, Radetinac, Fallenuis, Therkildsen, Bergh, Priske